On Wednesday in
our KS1 assembly we considered what it must have been like to have been in the
crowd the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. We considered the emotions and
the excitement, the stories that would have been circulating the crowd and
their response to the man that rode into Jerusalem.
One of the
questions that must have been raised was who really was this man? The crowd
would have heard of his miracles and teaching, some may even have seen him or
heard him. Some in fact might actually have been related to those he had
healed, those whose lives he changed for ever. But the symbolism in the
way he was greeted as he came into Jerusalem, seemed to suggest that the crowd
had already made up its mind. Their welcome was traditionally reserved for a
king, a conqueror, a hero who was returning to his city. The shouts and cries
of the crowd, the palm branches and the euphoria where all part of this.
But as the
Easter story unfurls it seems that they did not get what they expected, the man
they welcomed was clearly not a king in the earthly sense. But in many ways
this probably only raised the same question again. If he was not an earthly
king, then who was this Jesus, who turned and rode towards Jerusalem?
This question
will be the focus of our assemblies this coming week. For it is a question that
is central to the Easter story. Throughout the Gospel accounts of the events
that led up to Good Friday this question is asked time and time again. Who is
this man?
Dave Godfrey in
one of his many excellent songs, frames this question really well and I will be
introducing this song to the children this week.
What kind of man is this, who
taught in Galilee
Who stilled the raging storm, and calmed the angry sea?
What kind of man is this, who healed the blind and lame
Gave the poor new hope, the girl her life again?...
Who stilled the raging storm, and calmed the angry sea?
What kind of man is this, who healed the blind and lame
Gave the poor new hope, the girl her life again?...
